1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to decontamination of fluids containing ionic contaminants, especially water containing anionic contaminants. In particular, the invention relates to the removal of arsenic contaminants and chromate from water by treating the water using adsorbent compounds comprised of divalent and trivalent metal oxides and sulfides.
2. Description of the Related Art
For purposes of this disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the term “metal oxides” is intended to include both metal oxides and metal hydroxides. Likewise, the term “metal sufides” is intended to include both metal sulfides and metal hydrosulfides. Similarly, for purposes of this disclosure, “arsenic contaminants” includes both arsenates and arsenites.
Arsenic contaminants are examples of anionic contaminants that may be present in water as a result of natural as well as human-mediated causes. The long-term availability of safe and affordable drinking water depends, in part, on availability of effective and economical treatment means for removing arsenic contaminants (as well as other anionic contaminants including chromate) from water. Successful treatment strategies, in turn, depend on not otherwise significantly altering the water characteristics (for example, its pH) in ways that would make it non-potable.
Arsenic and other anionic contaminants likewise pose risks when present in fluids other than drinking water sources. For example, waste water streams often contain such contaminants and require remediation even where they are not considered to be directly associated with potable drinking water sources.
Various sorbent methods for removing arsenic contaminants and other anionic contaminants from water have been used and developed previously. For example, certain trivalent metal hydroxide compounds, such as Al2O3 and Fe2O3, have been demonstrated to sorb anionic contaminants, including arsenic contaminants, from water. A drawback associated with use of such trivalent compounds alone is that, because they typically exhibit a point of zero charge from pH 7 to 9, the water to be treated may need to be acidified in order for these compounds to sorb anions to a significant degree. Thus, after treatment, in order to restore the potability of the treated water, further amendments must be added to bring the pH back up to a safely drinkable range. Similarly, tetravalent metal oxides such as SiO2 could be effective anion sorbents, however, their point of zero charge is typically around pH 2, so extremely acidic conditions would needed for tetravalent metal oxides to sorb anions. Additionally, these substances are considered likely to fall outside of the range of useful sorbents because of other chemical issues associated with operating at such low pH.
The divalent oxide MgO, likewise, has been shown chemically to sorb anions including arsenic in water. Although use of MgO does not necessitate driving the pH of water outside of the potable range (divalent metal oxides tend to exhibit a point of zero charge that is pH 10 or higher), the effectiveness of MgO as a sorbent for water decontamination, however, can be limited. This is due to its tendency to form carbonates in the presence of carbon in the water from natural (e.g. biological and atmospheric) sources. When this occurs, the carbonate species formed at the surface lack any significant electrostatic attraction for negatively-charged ions. Thus, the sorbency of the MgO can be short-lived absent taking steps to reverse of the carbonate reaction and restore the sorbent.
The sorbency methods just discussed rely on the electrostatic attraction between positively charged surface species and negatively charged contaminants. An altogether different mechanism that has been exploited to decontaminate water containing ionic contaminant species is ion exchange. Examples of ion exchange materials suitable for water decontamination include hydrotalcites (which exchange anions) and zeolites (which exchange cations). Although ion exchange materials have been shown to be effective without causing the types of problems associated with Fe(OH)3 and Al2O3 (pH concerns) or MgO (carbonate issues), ion exchange materials can be very expensive. Zeolites that allow for separations based on size are also used in some decontamination applications, but they do not sorb anionic species such as chromate and arsenic contaminants in water.
Therefore, the need remains for improved liquid decontamination approaches that are inexpensive, yet effective in removing anionic contaminants, including chromate, arsenates and arsenites.